Orange Line split this weekend

There will be no Orange Line service between the East Falls Church and West Falls Church stations this weekend. The Dulles Metrorail project will be working on the first of a series of construction programs that by 2013 will connect the new rail line to the rest of the system.

Metro will operate free shuttle buses between the two stations on Saturday and Sunday, but riders should add at least half an hour to their travel times.

The service disruptions will begin on Friday nights. From 10 p.m. to the 3 a.m. Friday, trains will share a track between East Falls Church and Vienna. Riders traveling between the stations at those late-night hours should add at least 30 minutes to regular travel times. The last Orange Line train will leave Vienna at its regular time of 2:25 a.m.

This weekend it would be best not to park at Vienna, Dunn Loring, or West Falls Church, the stations west of the disruption. One option is to drive east to Franconia-Springfield Station on the Blue Line or Huntington Station on the Yellow Line for the rail trip downtown.